Feature

You say it’s your Earth Day?

The Earth Day Network reports that 1 billion people marked the eco-holiday on April 22. But with consciousness-raising taking place on such a massive scale, it’s easy to overlook the everyday people who fight to keep our corner of the planet clean and healthy. For them, eco-activism is not a once-yearly event.

For the eco warriors profiled in this week’s feature, the work is hard, the hours long and unpaid. It’s about attending meetings, learning how to speak up in public, keeping track of paperwork, forging alliances with neighbors. It involves concerted, long-term effort in the face of what often looks like an uphill battle.